Chapter 11

I nod, swallowing my nerves.

He closed the space between us, pressing his soft lips into mine in a gentle, chaste kiss. I returned it, raising myself on my tiptoes to reach him more easily.

I opened my eyes as he pulled away, and saw the same surprise I felt mirrored in his face.

“Great, I’ll edit these and send them to you. What do you think of this one?” Joseph asked, pulling me out of my contemplation.

He showed us an intimate photo he’d captured, our eyes locked tenderly. “That’s perfect, find one with a kiss for me, I want to upload that as my social media avatar.” Caleb said, already beginning to unbutton the jacket Joseph had given him for the shoot.

Joseph nodded, and left for his office.

“You’re really as bad as a teenager, you’re already updating your relationship status online?” I said, removing the veil from my hair.

“Don’t worry, it’s purely political.” He paused, looking up at me with a smirk. “You know I’ve never posted a woman I haven’t slept with yet. People are definitely bound to talk.”

I rolled my eyes, “It’s a wonder any woman degrades themselves enough to fuck you.”

He laughed, “Trust me, plenty of women love the degrading.”

I scoffed, the magic of the photoshoot moments before completely dissipated. Even when I thought I had seen glimpses of kindness from him, he still managed to fall back on his asshole personality. I changed quickly, and returned to see him engrossed in something on his phone.

In my past life, I knew he had found his mate about six months after my wedding to Lucas. If that was anything to go on, a woman claiming to be fated to him would appear at his door later this year. Even though our marriage scheme would mean saving an innocent woman from having to spend a lifetime with Caleb, it still brought a twinge of guilt.

“Does this worry you?” I asked.

“What?” He replied, not looking up from his phone.

“Marrying me, this plan, any of it. I mean, don’t you want to find your true mate?”

He tensed almost imperceptibly. “You know what finding your mate is like.” He said after a pause. “Mates are pain. Lucas hurt you, and whoever is fated to me will inevitably hurt me too. I don’t particularly want to go through that.”

The crease in his brow and the low tone of his voice made it obvious that he had been hurt before, but to just hastily reject the idea of a mate? The more I learned about him, the less I felt I understood.

”I should probably get going,” I said, looking through the doors to see the first light of dawn just starting to peek across the sky.

“I’ll call you a driver,” Caleb responded, tapping his phone.

“You don’t have to do that, I can—“

”Leave it, Ruby, let me do this for you. I can’t have my future wife getting killed by an angry hitch-hiker on her way home from wedding dress shopping.”

I yawned into my hand, the exhaustion I felt finally kicking in. “Alright,” I said, “But—“

I was cut off by the jingling sound of the door opening, allowing a series of four tall men in black shirts to enter. They ignored me completely, and instead nodded politely at Caleb before spreading out through the store. It was too strange, and I was too tired, and the car Caleb had called for me had just pulled up at the front of the store.

I took my belongings, and left, waving down the driver and climbing in the backseat. I would have plenty of opportunity to speak with Caleb more when we weren’t surrounded.

“Miss Ruby?” The stout man in the front asked, glancing at me through the rearview mirror.

“Yes, thank you. I’m going to the Prenian royal estate?”

“Caleb has already given me the address, don’t you worry. He’s a good man, that one, you’re a very lucky woman. It’s such a shame the media makes such a show of villainizing him, but I’m sure with such a pretty bride they can’t keep it up for too long.”

I scrunched my brow, sleep nearly overtaking me on the ride home as I considered the driver’s words.

It took a great deal of effort to climb back into the guest room without making a sound and waking my parents, and I collapsed onto the bed as soon as I reached it.

It had been the longest day I could remember, and even after I closed my eyes, I could still see a mess of swirling images in my dreams.

Lucas’s face above mine, laughing as the blood drained out of me.

Caleb clutching my lifeless body, sewing me up into my wedding dress.

Harper clutching Lucas, and cackling like a madwoman.

I woke the next morning to the sound of urgent knocking, and I rolled out of bed to answer it. My mother stood there, her lips pressed tightly together. “We’d like to speak to you, darling.” She said, “In the dining room. Now.”

My father was already seated at the front of the table, a cup of black coffee in front of him barely touched. “Where were you last night?” He said, holding up the braided rope I had made the night before.

I groaned a bit, and sat down at the table, taking an apple from the fruit bowl in the center. “I don’t know what you’re talking about,” I said, ignoring the fuming expression on his face.

“Rumors are already running rampant through the news, that Caleb was missing from his chambers last night, that a woman with your hair color was seen in the passenger seat of his car just after midnight. I think nothing of it at first, but then I find this hanging off the balcony of your room?” He exclaimed.

“You wouldn’t listen to me about the danger you are in, you gave me no choice but to act on my own account.” I retorted.

“Fine, then!” My mother shouted, her anxious energy creating a cloud over the conversation. “Stop using your cryptic descriptions, tell us what we don’t understand!”

I pause for a moment, unsure if the moment has finally come to tell the truth of my story. I opened my mouth, intending to start slowly, but the stress of the last few days came tumbling out of my mouth. It felt so good to finally admit to the true story of my rebirth, the violent death I suffered at the hands of Harper and Lucas, the vicious tyranny I witnessed in my past life, and finally the terrible fate I knew they were destined for if they weren’t willing to listen to me.

“That’s not all,” I said, watching the horrified expressions on their faces. I took a deep breath to prepare, “Lucas framed you for treason. He orchestrated a report which said you spent time trading state secrets with a member of the Bear tribe at official parties.” I could barely push out the next words in a whisper. “The Bear was paid by Lucas to give testimony condemning you in court. You both were killed mysteriously before the verdict could be delivered. Your reputation was in ruins, and your bodies were never properly buried.”

The rest of the conversation was tense, but for the first time, they didn’t shut me down.

I spent the afternoon attempting to work out more specifics on my plans with Caleb, the political maneuvers we would need to employ in order to succeed against Lucas.

I finally fell onto the bed, drained, well past sunset.

My phone buzzed on the night table beside me, and I drowsily reached over to check the notification. It was a social media post from Caleb, announcing the date of our upcoming wedding.

I tapped onto the post, looking at the picture uploaded with it. It was one we had taken the night before, the two of us deep in an embrace. I was stunned by the casualness of the image, how easy and comfortable I looked encircled by Caleb’s arms.

Even still, when I scrolled down to the comments, I couldn’t help but notice the wave of negative responses and dislikes.

Who does this bitch think she is?

They’re doomed, you can’t start a marriage like that!

Poor Lucas, have you seen his last interview? These people are heartless!

Suddenly, I heard a loud tapping noise on the window at the balcony, and a moment later Lucas burst through the door, letting in a gust of cold night wind with him.

“What the hell are you doing?” I shouted, pulling the covers over me. It felt stupid, but it was all I could think to do.

“What the hell are you doing?” He seethed through his teeth, pointing an accusing finger at me. “You call off my wedding, and then you ignore me for days? Your mate of all people!”

“You stopped having the right to call yourself my mate when you started taking Harper into your bed.”

He pressed on, paying no attention to my words. “And now you let Caleb announce the date of your new wedding? It won’t happen. You’re mine and even if you keep trying to run from me, you won’t be able to stay away forever.

“I’ve already dealt with the press, now I just need to fix you.” He said, menacingly striding across the room towards me.